The Washington critic., 1887-02-17

front of the White House door take up
the cry and pass 1t along down the
line. The drivers seated impaiieniy
and half frozen on their boxes
echo the call. On down the
line II goes, and out to the
avenue among the hundreds of vehicles
and drivers there. BY aud by you hear
the answer shouted In the dim distance,
Coming up, sir, aud then the answer
Is passed along the line. back TO the
waiting statesman or diplomat. Mean
time others have come and called for
their vehicles, and still more and more
in numbers, and the shouts and calls
grow thicker and more numerous, until
there Is confusion everywhere. The
drivers hearing their calls, whip their
horses up and hustle up the drive,
anxious TO be on hand promptly. The
horses dash wildly about, requiring
sometimes the entire skill of the driver
and the aid of n couple of policemen to
keep them from making trouble In the
jam of carriages which gathers about
the door. Frequently Senators and
other dignitaries walt for long time,
shouting themselves hoarse, valnly
trying to get word to their drivers.
have seen millionaire Senator walk.
ing up and down the sidewalk of the
White House grounds of rainy night
at midnight without m umbrella,
vainly searching for his carriage, while
his ladies stood shivering In their even.
ing dress and light wraps, either upon
the steps of the Executive Mansion or
within exposed to the constant drnughts
frnn, thn Inpru ft,rn,,Frf xyhtph
the crowds of departing guests passed.
The Presidents receptions are sup
posed to close at II, but there Is n full
hour of this agony and hub bnb In
front of the Executive Mansion, and 1t
is almost always IL before the last
guest has been enabled to put foot 10
side his carriage.
.*M
Some time ago, says the Chatter.
box" Of the Philadelphia Ne,es, one of
the locomotive engineers of the Penn
sylvania Railroad failed to obey one Of
the signals shown at station and
wrecked his train. As everybody
knows, signals are given by colors-
white for "all right green for "cau-
ton" and rcd for danger" or
"stop'-nnd investigation developed
the fact that this engine driver was
color. blind" An examination was at
once made of all the drivers" on the
lines of the company, and those who
had this peculiar defect in sight were
assigned TO some other duty. One of
these men was met on Chestnut street
last night, and he was asked to what
he attributed his color blindness. II
was taking a train to New York one
night" he replied, when we ran
into thunder storm just the other
side of Newark. The lightning
struck the right hand rail of the
track about seyenty.flve feet ahead of
us and ran along the rails under my
engine. saw the white flash and the
engine seemed to be lifted up from the
rails on that side. felt the shock dis
tinctly and had strange sensation in
my eyes. i had to change places with
the fireman for the rest Of the trip.
Ever since then, though | was some
time finding it out, l have been unable
TO distinguish colors. Fortunately
| had no accident" AS matter of
curiosity he was asked to tell the color
of various lights on the street. One
electric light he said was lilac; another
he called deep purple. The gas lamps
seemed crimson to him, and green
street car light he called bright blue.
Passing druggists, he was asked to
name the color or q red globe that
stood in the window, and he said IT
was white. In other words, If he had
been driving an engine at night, and
had seen the "danger" or "stop" sig.
nal displayed, he would have gone
ahead and sent his passengers to de.
struction. How important, then, the
color examination, which is now rigidly
enforced.